[Lord Didsbury]

The mood is too negative. It was a poor performance today, and clearly there's some problems to sort, but that is all.

We all think we know more than Coleman but we don't. think about being the manager when Piero, Halliday, fosu, crooks, windass and Davies all ****** off. He's built a great defence from almost nowt and organised them very quickly. Who amongst us would have brought in Beckles under the noses of all the other div 2 clubs? There are other good players there as we've seen from occasional glimpses - so whilst there's weaknesses in certain areas I think we should acknowledge Coleman has bought/borrowed well enough.

That there are 20+ other managers who are also struggling to find consistency and turn their teams into potential champions (often with better resources) shows just how difficult it is to get all ducks in a row. Players and systems that may ultimately fail need some persisting with - even at the expense of a rocky patch.

Then there is Coleman's record. How many times has he managed to break through to the next level? He can't do it every season but he seems to get there in the end.

Finally, we are a third of the way into the season. Thirty one games to go. We are two points off the playoffs.

A degree of patience is called for.